Grand Nativity Display
A Saviour has been born for you..
From Sunday 24th November to Sunday 1st December
in the Catholic Centre at 9 Maitland Street Geraldton.
Marking the conclusion of 800th anniversary of the First Nativity Scene created by St Francis of Assisi in Italy in 1223, Geraldton Parishes is setting up a grand nativity display with more than 150 nativity sets of various sizes, nature and culture collected by Fr Savio Nguyen from many of our Parishioners. The display will be in the Catholic Centre for a week commencing from Sunday, 24th November to Sunday 1st December.
Please do not mis out this unique and once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see this grand display in our Parish. Booking is necessary for Schools and any groups. Available slots can be checked on the Calendar below or Click here to see the Calendar.
The initial concept of this exhibition is from the Administrator Fr Gerard Totanes, who himself is a professed member of the Secular Franciscan Order.
Saint Francis of Assisi had a special devotion to the Child Jesus. It is believed that Saint Francis was first inspired by this idea after visiting the historical place of Christ’s birth on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, the humble stable in a Bethlehem cave.
It is likely that this event deepened his devotion to the Child Jesus, who was born into the world in such poverty, humility, and simplicity. In fact, St Francis founded his new religious Order to imitate these very virtues which are very hard to find in the modern world even among the Catholics.
Saint Francis recreated the scene of Christ’s birth in a special ritual and Mass he held inside of a cave in Greccio, Italy, inviting both his fellow friars and the townspeople to join in the celebration. Saint Francis’ recreation of that first Christmas night was so popular that the devotion spread to private homes, and in modern times even to secular institutions, so much so that it’s now impossible to imagine Christmas without a nativity scene to behold.
It is a historic Catholic tradition and a tool for meditation on the humility, simplicity, and poverty of Christ that he took on, from the moment of his Incarnation, out of his boundless love for his lost sheep.
